[Monotonix/Crystal Antlers/]Cut Off Your Hands/Bear Hands

Money is hard to come by when you’re a college student (and your parents aren’t sending you “allowances” for “spending money” because you make “necessary purchases” every week that require hundreds). So whenever I save up the requisite $22.50 to get a round trip to NYC, it’s a BIG DEAL (for me). Phones ring, Brooklyn floors are cleared for my crashing, and plans are made.

Well, don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this Todd P fella, but his shows are, seriously, a dream-come-true for kids (or adults) on a budget. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $7 for a show, and the bills are always about 3-4 bands. And it’s an all-ages deal…which is amazing so that kids under 18 can actually get to see live interesting stuff instead of sitting at home and watching MTV. This last Saturday had a 4-band bill…unfortunately, I was only able to see 2. And a half. Or something.

The venue was the 2nd floor of some run-down/abandoned-looking building. Drinks were cheap, spirits were high, and the Brooklyn hipsters were, like, nice…well, they weren’t asses, is what I mean. Bear Hands started out the set, and in my opinion, were the more impressive of the two bands I saw. Their first song was a mix of delayed guitar strums and dreamy vocals…it did what it was meant to do–draw in the crowd. People seemed to emerge from the walls as the song went on, and the room which had only minutes earlier been almost empty filled up with people ranging from 15 year old skater kids to…35 year old skater men. And a guy dressed as a milkman.

No one could have prepared me for the second song. The restrained energy that had [apparently] been building up during the opening song just exploded on the unsuspecting crowd as snare-hits galore and dirty-sounding guitars filled the space. The lead singer, with his tank top jersey and long hair put up in a bun, clearly delivered his lyrics, and the rest of the band provided a driving sound to keep the audience juiced. The drummer…GOD THE DRUMMER! With the way he was smacking the snare drum, you’d think he were trying to kill the damn thing. The remainder of the set was energetic, tight, and entertaining.

Second band: Cut Off Your Hands. The four-piece, originally from Auckland, came on soon after the end of Bear Hands’s set. I’m not sure what it was–the fact that you couldn’t hear the singer’s voice, the fact that I was still thinking about Bear Hands, or the fact that I had been traveling/walking/working since 7:30 that morning–but I started getting really tired. Like…really. I sat down on the floor of this venue, put my head up against the wall, and drifted in and out of sleep. (I’m sure my friends just thought I was wasted) If you want to get down to it ,though, I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that…I just didn’t find Cut Off Your Hands to be that interesting. I mean, they were into it…and the majority of the crowd was into them. But for most of their set, I found myself either motionlessly sitting on the floor…or motionlessly standing against a wall.

Okay. I’m horrible, and I’m sorry. Come on, it doesn’t mean I don’t respect them for making music…

So after their set ended, that’s when I got REALLY excited. Crystal Antlers!? Monotonix!? The last Monotonix show I had been to was absolutely insane, and amazing. And I was way excited to hear what Crystal Antlers had to offer. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see either of these bands. It was getting late, my friends were getting tired, and the spectacle that came on stage in the break after Cut Off Your Hands and before Crystal Antlers hammered the last nail into the coffin that was my night.

Now, between the sets of the first two bands, there had been a DJ spinning some tracks. But for this break, there was no DJ. Rather, there was a dude from Indiana playing pop songs on his guitar against some beats he made on his iPod. I’ll be honest, I thought it was pretty fun. People in the crowd were dancing, the music was loud, and the milkman was passing out what looked like water (or vodka) in glass bottles. My friends whom I had gone to the concert with, however, did not like it. And, considering that it was 2 in the morning by this point and that I was depending on my friends to drive me to the floor of an apartment in Sunset Park, I was pretty much at their mercy. So away we went.

So, umm…that’s my story.

I really liked Bear Hands!